Gabriela's WGSX talk - Artist Talk

Collateral Image: Portraits of Iraqi Refugees

Gabriela Bulisova, a former visiting Art Professor here at St. Mary’s gave a talk on war. Her talk was an extension of her photographic exhibition at Monty. Gabriela stated that when she was asked to be a speaker for the colloquium, that she was initially shocked because she was not a war photographer. The closest that she had been to photographing an actual war was during her time at Lebanon which was during the end of the war of 2006. However, she related that her works as a photojournalist represented other forms of war or aftermath of war that impacted not just women but also men. Her talk was focused on three main sets of her photographic works. They were Option of Last Resort. Iraqi Refugees in the United States, Iraqi Refugees, Damascus, Syria and her most recent work CONVICTIONS.

In Iraqi Refugees, Damascus, Syria, Gabriela stated that a large of number of Iraqis fled from Iraqi to neighboring countries because of the war going on in Iraq. She stated that supposedly fortunate Iraqis may sometimes be granted refugee status in the United States and be able to live there – this was the focus of Option of Last Resort. Iraqi Refugees in the United States. Many Iraqis fled to Syria such that a neighborhood in Damascus, Sayyida Zainab, is considered a hot spot for many Iraqi refugees. These Iraqi refugees live in dire conditions and because they are in Syria illegally, they can’t find decent jobs. Gabriela talked about a family she visited, the father was a doctor in Iraq but now he could not find a decent job in Syria and could barely feed his family. Another was of a woman, known as the mother of Iraqis. She gave up a part of her apartment for use as a school for Iraqi children to learn English and French. She is also the go-to person for Iraqis who are looking for housing, jobs, etc. Many Iraqis in Syria that Gabriela interviewed of photograph are anticipating the day that they would be able to go back to Iraq.

This sense of nostalgia or the feeling that things were more bearable in Iraq resonated in the tales told by Iraqis living in the United States. Many of these Iraqis were translators for the US military while in Iraq and so their lives were in danger. In Option of Last Resort. Iraqi Refugees in the United States, Gabriela took photographs of these individuals in their homes, their niches and she also played an audio recording of some Iraqis. These individuals all shared that they were grateful to the US government for giving them the opportunity to live in the US. However, in the US, they live in dire conditions and have financial problems. As I was listening to the audio, I could hear the pain and sorrow that these people felt – one of the men who spoke was almost at the point of tears. As an immigrant to the US, I can understand some of their frustration with living in the US.

In CONVICTIONS, Gabriela took us thorough the lives of women ex-convicts in D.C and how they dealt with transitioning to the society. Some of them had young children to go back to while others had changed in many ways. They were all finding it hard to adjust - be it in getting jobs or with taking care of family members or making up for lost times with their children. This project is still ongoing though and with great potential.

In all, Gabriela’s photographs were great in capturing the lives of the people she met. Some pictures were in black and white while others were in color. Also, Gabriela made use of vingetting to close in on her subjects and put them in focus. For individuals that did not want their faces to be revealed, Gabriela was able to respect their privacy but yet still capture the emotions or conditions that these individuals were in.

I thought the presentation was great and Gabriela’s work and her ability to tell a story really came through.

Art Event- Public Art, Community, Politics

There were three professors guiding this lecture- Lisa Scheer, Billy Friebele, Katie Gantz, and someone from the poli sci department who's name I did not catch. The lecture dealt with using space in artisitc and political expressions. The two that intrigued me the most were of Billy and Katie. Billy's dealt with defining the physical space in the District of Columbia and how the residents of that area defined their locations and their space; stressing DC as an organic being. His project was/is a very interactive project where people from specific areas in DC will photograph something in that space that more or less defines it, and submit their photographs to be added over layers of other photographs that make up the physical space on a map. I just thought it was very intriguing how people defined these spaces as their own and not in relation to whatever is thought to be known about the area. For example, to an outsider wandering around the national mall, they might be quick to identify the museums and/or monuments. However, to someone from the area, they might be more inclined to submit something completely different, like images of all the tourists posing in front of the camera appearing to be touching the tip of the monument--hilarious to see people do this, by the way.

Katie Gantz's contribution to this lecture was as equally interesting. Her talk was about the remodeled city of Paris from what it was in the 18th century and before, to what it has become since the 19th century. She started by pointing out the wide streets of Paris and how they outline the importance of the grand monuments that are seen at each end of the main streets. She mentioned how this model of the city, when it was new at the time, was to put an emphasis on their amazing art and architecture. However, the latest art movement in Paris seems to be tagging and street art, specifically through large stickers such as postage labels. It was pretty great being able to make that connection with taggers here in the states that picked up that same method. She basically explained how the seemingly vandalizing acts are an art form in the contemporary Parisian art culture. She mentioned how these street artists will apply the stickers even on the most famous of architectures that are found all over the city. I thought it was specifically interesting when she called specific tags a 'treasure' to find. Seeing as how some street artists go above and beyond to display their work in the most intricate ways as possible, there are specific tags that are thought of as rare and become a pleasant surprise to be able to come across one of these treasures.

Mary Early-Artist talk

The art talk earlier this semester was with the local Washington, D.C. artist Mary Early. Early is renowned sculptor, printmaker and drawer who primarily works with beeswax and wood material. She ultimately creates works that involve post-modernist ideas, revolving around the organic nature of her materials. One of the first things that Early stated was her reason for choosing to work with such an ephemeral material was that it wasn’t permanent, which was an intentional decision. She takes long strips of wood, glues them together and then literally paints the beeswax onto the wood in 3-dimensional forms that somehow exploit the architecture. She says that lighting is an important part of her work as well, and that she wanted to create works that seemed like they made themselves. One particular work of beeswax in a circular pattern, with holes around the entire sculpture, plus one in the very center was very beautiful. The yellow color of the beeswax works nicely with the gallery setting that it’s displayed in, and it seems so smooth and organic, yet it’s completely man-made. She seems to work a lot with geometrical forms and the axis’ that each can create when placed against eachother. From doing this, Early was able to create sculptures that seem to “continue infinitely.” One last alteration that she applies to her work is the use of water onto the wood and beeswax, which is done to warp the look of the wood, and to “cause deformity to result in something unplanned.” I honestly really liked Early’s work, although I’m not a sculptor I could clearly see where she was grabbing her ideas; simply working with the continuation of lines that connect together to the center is one of her main paths to creating this work. Using the element of repetition, Early says that she is inspired by sculptor martin Puryear, whose work obviously resembles Early’s. Quiet and poetic, the sculptures seem to take over the space of the room with its single form, forcing the audience to take a step back and actually explore the natural form and shape of the sculpture. Overall, I really enjoyed Mary Early’s talk on her life and work. I think that her work embodies a concept that most people can’t connect with internally, natural form, so for her to push this onto her audience is exceptionally pleasing.

Gabriela Bulisova-artist talk

The artist talk that I attended was for the wonderful Gabriela Bulisova, who I’ve actually had the pleasure I’ve being a photography student for. Gabriela is a Czechoslovakian photographer who is based in Washington, D.C. yet photographs all over the world. Her work mostly focuses around Iraqi refugees and lifestyles, as well as native Washington, D.C. previously incarcerated women. She works with documentary photography and is constantly sending a message to her audience with her photographs. Documenting internally displaced Iraqi refugees, sometimes forced to flee is Gabriela’s main source of content in her current work. The title of the WGSX colloquium, Women in War, was one of shock to Gabriela, stating “I’m not a war photographer!” Soon though, she said that after viewing her work over and over, she realized why she was asked to participate in this show. Her rich black and white photographs are from years of work, visiting various countries such as Damascus and Syria, getting to know the residents and families that live out their everyday lives there. Although she stated that most of her encounters revolved around beings living in dire situations, “desperate and disillusioned,” she has found a way to tell their stories discreetly, protecting the refugees from any documentation harm. From listening to Gabriela’s stories, I learned a great deal of information about the nations and each individual’s life. Having to travel from one nation to America can be really difficult, the transition can sometimes be too devastating for the refugees though, which sometimes forces them back to Iraq, simply because they feel they have no place here in the U.S. Gabriela photographed several men and women, and even their homes and surroundings, to show her audience the trials and hardships that were taking place in living there. She also stated how she wanted to diminish any identity within the individuals photographed, because honestly they didn’t really have any identity left; that and the obvious reason of protection from terrorists. Most of the people she photographed are still in fear for their lives, mostly due to helping out the United States through translators or military help, which keeps them secluded, away from outside life. One very important fact that Gabriela brought up was that with one photograph of the neighborhood she stayed in, from inside the house looking out a window. She stated that this was the only photograph of the neighborhood because her translator told her it was way too dangerous to be seen in the streets there, especially as a documentary photographer. I don’t know if I could deal with the reality of having to constantly fear for my life and others lives because of photographs that I wanted to document and tell a story with; a story that needs to be told. It shows that Gabriela not only has strength behind the lens but a deep relationship with those in front of the lens as well. The ending of the talk included audio clips from several African American women in D.C. who were recently just let out of incarceration. The photographs displayed during the audio captured the women’s faces and emotions that they described in their stories; how they are dealing with the hardships of being placed back into American society, a society that doesn’t necessarily promote previously incarcerated women. To hear the stories was very emotional for me. As a viewer you get the sense that you should be out there helping these women, and not just the incarcerated women, but the refugees as well. To hear the stories of what they have gone through, and how it’s been hard for them to live their afterlives in America, is really devastating and sad. To know that our country doesn’t give all the help it says it does, to human beings that are in dire needs, is to live in a place that revolves around censorship and denial.

Visiting Artist Talk – Gabriela Bulisova

I thought that the gallery of her works was really good. In addition to the fact that it was great to see Ms. Gabriela, I was happy to see her works in person as this was my first experience. I had been opportune to have taken a class with her and she was very helpful in directing me in how to edit my pictures or how to use the Photoshop tools to create the best effect. Looking at her pictures in the gallery made it possible for me to see the outcome of her great skill in photography that she taught me.

I really like her work as a photojournalist. Each project dealt with social issues that I had little knowledge about. When I hear or read about any news about Iraq, it is usually about the war and the impacts of the war to America and sometimes about its influence in the lives of Iraqis living in Iraq. Gabriela’s depiction of the lives of Iraqi refugees in neighboring regions like Damascus and Syria was something I did not know about. But her way of depicting the lives of the Iraqi’s that she met gave a face, a story, and sometimes unuttered words to these refugees.

I particularly liked the way she used vingetting a lot in her pictures which placed the individual or individuals as the center and focus of the image. Also, the choice of lighting or even the layout of the images added to the visual impact of the different pictures. One of the images that I remember is that of an Iraqi girl with a gown pulled up to reveal a big ghastly wound. The girl faces the camera and she is captured as if she is looking to us, the viewers of the picture. The image is quite captivating and not only tells us the health impact that the war in Iraqi (presumably) has had on her but also makes me want to know the what and the why of her story.

Photojournalism, like what Gabriela has done so beautifully with her work, really adds a second level to journalism and adds visual context to events or stories that are being reported. Like what Gabriela has done with her projects, photojournalistic works can stand alone without words. They are not fully descriptive but are a great way to spur a conversation which can then lead to the search for the text that describes the image. Gabriela’s images stand alone but are in themselves are not self explanatory. It was great that the text were sometimes not placed with all the sets of pictures which allowed the viewers to survey the images and ask their own questions before seeking to find an answer to their questions which I believe was one of the purpose of the texts.

Lastly, the thoughtful placement of the groups of pictures for each project was great. I got that there was a sense of order but also that the nature of the open space was used in the ordering. There was a sense of playfulness to my mind – I had to work to find the pictures, the pictures were just not waiting in plain sight for me. At one point, I would check all around the beams to see if there were any pictures in hiding.

In general, I thought that the gallery was a success and was able to relate the lives of other people who are in some way being affected by some form of war.